I am having my first (and probably last) Ebay purchase experience. I bought a used guitar amplifier last Friday, paid for it immediately, it has an “estimated arrival date” of tomorrow, and I cannot pry any shipping information out of the seller. It still shows as “not yet shipped” and I’ve requested tracking info to no avail. He says he shipped it Monday, but claimed not to have the tracking info on him and apparently can’t be bothered to post this information on the auction page. I’ve asked twice since, with no reply.
I created a USPS account since he claimed to ship it Priority Mail, but my new account does not show any pending packages coming my way.
I just want to know which day to expect it so I can snag it from wherever my postman (who would rather cut of his balls than get out of his truck) decides to toss it before the neighbors or some passing motorist grabs it.
This does not seem like too much to ask, but apparently it is.
On a related note, Amazon now claims to deliver on Sundays, but has only followed through on this once or twice out of half a dozen times. I pay for Prime, so I suppose they feel obligated to promise delivery dates they can’t possibly honor so I’ll keep paying my Prime fees. I rearrange my activities to be home for the Sunday delivery which seemingly everyone but me is pretty sure isn’t going to happen until Monday. I finally complained about it, and they offered me a 30percent refund on my Prime fee. Let us know if you don’t get it by yesterday. Of course, I didn’t get it by yesterday. But they shut me up for a few days.
I’ve come to the realization, that instead of the “convenience” of shopping from my recliner, I’m in reality just adding another layer or two of participants who can screw up my shopping experience and make it unpleasant.
As soon as these last online purchases are concluded, I think I’m about done with online shopping.
At least if I use real stores, I can hand them my money, and clutch my purchase and walk out and be done with it.
USPS tracking sucks. It’s gotten a little better in recent years, but if you’re expecting the continual visual pointer of UPS or FedEx, fugeddaboutit. It’s useful for tracking lost or missent stuff, and that’s about it. I often get delivery notices days after the parcel has already arrived.
Be sure to fully inspect your item. We recently purchased a new vacuum online. It was delivered the other day, and looked like new packaging, but evidently someone had used it, carefully repackaged it, and returned it, only to be shipped-out again to us, complete with someone else’s scratches, dust, and hair. :mad:
The OP says the seller won’t give him a tracking number. It’s kind of hard for USPS to give out information without a tracking number. This is on the seller and not USPS.
I didn’t complain about the inefficiency of USPS tracking. I complained about getting no tracking number from the seller. In my neighborhood, a tracking number may not show the entire itinerary of my package, but does show when it arrives at my local PO and is out for delivery so I can at least be on the lookout for it. For this not inexpensive item, the lazy Ebay seller won’t even give me that. That is, if he shipped it at all. That’s why I don’t think I’ll be doing any more Ebay.
I read some complaints about USPS in the OP, although they are secondary to the complaint about not getting a tracking number. For one thing…
…Sunday deliveries are done by the USPS under some strange subcontracting gig with UPS. I guess it’s a good use of otherwise idle but capable resources, but it’s one more of the OP’s problems that trace as much to the service as the sender. IMHO, as a very heavy Amazon buyer with many hundreds of eBay transactions as well. USPS is my last choice for shipping in most cases because they’ve never really caught up with either of the parcel services.
That does sound strange. Although, I would never get Sunday delivery here as, like I said, neither USPS nor UPS nor any other shipping company works on Sundays.
All shopping methods have pluses and minuses. Brick and mortar shops have a very limited selection compared to what you can get online, are frequently more expensive (although often as cheap or cheaper), are out of stock from time to time, and going to the shop/buying/coming home takes much longer than online shopping.
I think the Sunday Prime delivery thing is still spotty. Not available everywhere and not all the time. There might be rules about how much stuff is deliverable before they call in someone to deliver it.
USPS is weird in several ways. My latest eBay purchase was routed to the main regional sorting center. Good. Then it went waaay off to the opposite side of town. Bad. Then it showed up in my mailbox today a day earlier than scheduled. Good.
It’s just one of those things where you take a chill pill, relax, and let it happen the way it’s going to happen.
(OTOH, sellers who print up a label so the item is listed as “shipped” and then take their sweet time to actually send it deserve to be improperly embalmed and have their hearts found lacking by Osiris.)
I have a store on ebay and sell hundreds of items a year. Ebay has a shipping module built in for sellers and if shipped priority it will automatically have a tracking number. Priority is 1-3 days to most of the US so you should get it shortly if it was shipped Monday.
Look on your purchase notice in my ebay. If he generated the label using ebay’s online app (which offers a slight discount to shippers) a tracking number should be listed there. If he did it at the Post Office window (which is less convenient and more expensive) he should have a printed receipt he can text or email you a pic of without too much trouble.
True that, but at least I don’t need to wonder if or when I’ll get my purchases after I’ve paid for them. Peace of mind: priceless.
Update: One last nag from me and the seller cancelled the order. Clearly, he never actually shipped it or he’d have just given me the damned tracking number. So much for Ebay.
